Paging system

ABSTRACT

A paging system includes a private branch exchange telephone system ( 2 ) having a number of registered users ( 7 ). Each registered user ( 7 ) is associated with a unique identification code and, optionally, a cell phone number ( 5 ). The private branch exchange ( 2 ), in response to a call to the registered user&#39;s extension (EXT 1 ), dialing a call to the cell phone number ( 5 ) associated with the registered user ( 7 ).

The invention relates to a paging system.

In organizations, if a person is not physically at their desk, it canoften be difficult for another person in the organisation, such as areceptionist, to locate that person, for example, in order to putthrough a telephone call to them.

Conventional solutions at overcoming this problem have used a tannoy orloudspeaker system to broadcast a call for the person that someone istrying to locate them. Alternatively, electronic paging systems exist inwhich an electronic paging device carried by a person alerts the person,usually by an audible alarm, to the fact that someone else is trying tolocate them.

However, a disadvantage of these conventional systems is that they onlycover a limited geographical area. Even in the case of an electronicpaging system, which operates outside the organisation's premises, it isnecessary for a person being paged to locate, a telephone to respond tothe paging message. Also, if the person is outside the organisationpremises, it is generally not possible for a person who is also externalto the organisation to be connected to the person being paged.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a paging system comprising a private branch exchange telephonesystem having a number of registered users, a registered user beingassociated with an extension of the private branch exchange telephonesystem and a mobile voice communication device number, the privatebranch exchange, in response to a call to the registered user'sextension, dialing a call to the mobile voice communication devicenumber associated with the registered user; and whereby if theregistered user responds to the call placed by the private branchexchange telephone system to the mobile voice communication device byentering an identification code on an extension of the private branchexchange telephone system, the private branch exchange telephone systemdiverts the call to the extension.

As used herein, the term “mobile voice communication device” means anymobile communication device which is capable of 2-way voicecommunication and capable of displaying or announcing a numberassociated with a calling party, and includes but is not restricted to,a cell phone or any other cellular communication device capable of 2-wayvoice communication.

An advantage of the invention is that by the private branch exchangenotifying a person of an incoming call on the user's mobile voicecommunication device, a user may respond using the mobile voicecommunication device or by an extension of the private branch exchangeof the user in the vicinity of user.

In the first aspect of the invention, the call may initially be directedby the private branch exchange to the user's extension, and if theextension rings more than a given number of times, the private branchexchange then places the call to the user's mobile voice communicationdevice number.

Alternatively, the private branch exchange telephone system mayimmediately place the call to the user's mobile voice communicationdevice number, without waiting for the user's extension to ring.

A call to the user may be from an extension of the private branchexchange or from the public switched telephone network.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided apaging system comprising a private branch exchange telephone systemhaving a number of registered users, a registered user being associatedwith an extension of the private branch exchange and a mobile voicecommunication device number, where in response to a telephone call madefrom a first extension of the private branch exchange telephone systemto the registered user's mobile voice communication device number, theregistered user enters an identification code on a second extension ofthe private branch exchange telephone system, and the private branchexchange telephone system comparing the entered identification code withthe identification code associated with the registered user, and if theentered identification code matches the identification code associatedwith the registered user, the private branch exchange telephone systemdiverts the call to the second extension.

The identification code may comprise the number of the extension withwhich the registered user is associated.

Typically, the registered user enters an instruction code on the secondextension, in an addition to the identification code, the instructioncode informing the private branch exchange telephone system that theregistered user is requesting a call to be diverted to the secondextension.

Preferably, the mobile voice communication device is a cellular 2-wayvoice communication device, such as a cell phone.

An example of a paging system in accordance with the invention will nowbe described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a paging system;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing operation of the paging system when acall is made to a user's extension on a private branch exchangetelephone system;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing operation of the paging system when acall is placed from an extension on the private branch exchangetelephone system to a user's cell phone; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing a verification process if a userrequests transfer of a call to an extension on the private branchexchange.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a paging system, in accordance withthe invention. A registered user 7 has a cell phone 5 and the registereduser and the number of the cell phone 5 are associated with a telephoneextension EXT1 on a private branch exchange telephone system (PBX)2. ThePBX 2 may have any number of extensions EXT1, EXT2, EXT3, . . . , EXTn.In addition, the PBX 2 is connected by a telephone link 3 to the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN)4. The PSTN 4 may direct calls to thecell phone 5 via a cellular telecommunication network and a base station(BST) 6.

In use, if, for example, a call is made by another party from atelephone 8 coupled to the PSTN 4, or from an extension EXT2 on the PBX2, to the extension EXT1 on the PBX 2, the PBX 2 will direct the call tothe extension EXT1 step s1 (see FIG. 2). The PBX 2 monitors whether thecall is answered within a set number of rings (step s2). If the call isanswered within the set number of rings, the PBX 2 connects the call toEXT 1, as shown in step s3 of FIG. 2.

If the call is not answered within n rings, the PBX 2 redirects the call(step s4) to the cell phone 5 of the user 7 by placing an external callon the telephone link 3 and PSTN 4 to the cell phone 5.

Alternatively, the PBX2 may be programmed to direct all calls to theextension EXT1 direct to the cell phone 5. In this case step s2 of FIG.2 is omitted.

When the cell phone 5 rings, the user 7, from the display on the cellphone 5, can determine whether the caller ID shown on the cell phoneidentifies the call (step s5) as originating from the PBX 2. The user 7then has the option (step s6) to answer the call on the cell phone 5. Ifthe user 7 answers the call on the cell phone 5, the call is connected(step s7) to the cell phone 5 through the PBX 2. If the first user 7does not answer the call on the cell phone 5, then if the user 7 is inthe vicinity of an extension EXT3, . . . , to EXTn of the PBX 2, theuser 7 can choose (step s8) to answer the call on one of theseextensions. If the user 7 opts to answer the call on, for example,extension EXTn, the user 7 keys in the unique identification code on theextension EXTn to identify himself to the PBX (steps s9) and to requestthe call to be diverted from the cell phone 5 to the extension EXTn. ThePBX 2 then goes through a verification sequence, as shown in FIG. 4.After the user 7 enters the identification code (step s9), the PBX 2identifies (step v2) the user 7 using the identification code andverifies that there is a call pending for the user 7 (step v2). If thereis a call pending, PBX 2 connects (step s10) the call to the user 7 atextension EXTn. If there is not a call pending, the PBX 2 announces(step v5) to the user 7 that there are no calls pending for him.

If the user 7 at step s8 chooses not to answer the call on an extensionof the PBX 2, then the paging system terminates without the call beingplaced to the user 7 and, for example, the call may be diverted to thevoice mail box of the user 7 so that the caller may leave a message forthe user 7.

In another example of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 3, extensionEXT3 makes a call (step t1) to the cell phone 5 of the user 7. As thecall is placed to the PSTN 4 via the PBX 2, the caller ID displayed onthe cell phone 5 identifies the call (step t2) as originating from thePBX 2. When the user 7 sees that the call is originated from the PBX 2,the user 7 has the option (step t3) to answer the call on the cell phone5. If the user 7 opts to answer the call on the cell phone 5, the callis connected to the cell phone (step t4) through the PBX 2.

If the user 7 opts not to answer the call on the cell phone 5, the user7, if he is in the vicinity of an extension EXT1, . . . , EXTn of thePBX 2 has the option of answering the call on one of the extensionsEXT1, . . . , to EXTn.

If the user 7 chooses to answer the call on an extension EXTn, the user7 keys in his unique identification code on the extension EXTn toidentify himself (step t6) to the PBX 2. The PBX 2 then goes through asimilar verification process to that described above and shown in FIG.4. If the identification code entered on extension EXTn corresponds tothe identification code of the user 7 and a call is verified as pendingfor the user 7, the PBX 2 connects the call (step t7) to extension EXTn,and terminates the call to the cell phone 5.

If the user 7 is not close to an extension EXT1, . . . , to EXTn thenthe call will not be answered and caller will be told that the callcannot be connected or will be diverted (step t8), for example, to thevoice mail box of the user 7.

An advantage of the invention is that it permits a paging system to beimplemented using a conventional cell phone 5 and if the user 7 is inthe vicinity of an extension EXT1, . . . , EXTn of the PBX 2 when theuser 7 is paged using the cell phone 5, the user has the option ofanswering the call on the cell phone 5 or answering the call using oneof the extensions EXT1, . . . , EXTn of the PBX 2.

If the user 7 is not in the vicinity of an extension EXT1, . . . , EXTnof the PBX 2, the user may respond to the paging signal received on thecell phone 5 by answering the call on the cell phone 5.

Accordingly, the invention does not require additional electroniccommunication devices to be carried by a user 7 to permit the pagingsystem to operate.

In addition, if the user responds to the call to the cell phone by usingan extension to the PBX 2, call charges due to the call from the PBX 2to the cell phone 5 are minimised. Furthermore, if the user respondsusing an extension of the PBX 2, it is likely that the clarity of thetelephone call will be improved compared with answering the call usingthe cell phone 5.

1. A paging system comprising a private branch exchange telephone systemhaving a number of registered users, a registered user being associatedwith an extension of the private branch exchange telephone system and amobile voice communication device number, the private branch exchangetelephone system, in response to a call to the registered user'sextension, dialing a call to the mobile voice communication devicenumber associated with the registered user, and whereby if theregistered user responds to the call placed by the private branchexchange telephone system to the mobile voice communication device byentering an identification code on an extension of the private branchexchange telephone system, the private branch exchange telephone systemdiverts the call to the extension.
 2. A system according to claim 1,wherein the private branch exchange telephone system initially directsthe call to the registered users extension, and if the extension ringsmore than a given number of times, the private branch exchange thenplaces the call to the registered users mobile voice communicationdevice number.
 3. A system according to claim 2, wherein theidentification code comprises the number of the extension with which theregistered user is associated.
 4. A system according to claim 2, whereinif the registered user, in addition to the identification code, entersan instruction code to instruct the private branch exchange telephonesystem to divert the call for the registered user associated with theentered identification code, to the second extension.
 5. A systemaccording to claim 3, wherein if the registered user, in addition to theidentification code, enters an instruction code to instruct the privatebranch exchange telephone system to divert the call for the registereduser associated with the entered identification code, to the secondextension.
 6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the private branchexchange telephone system directs the call to the mobile voicecommunication device number without first directing the call to theextension associated with the registered user.
 7. A system according toclaim 6, wherein the identification code comprises the number of theextension with which the registered user is associated.
 8. A systemaccording to claim 6, wherein if the registered user, in addition to theidentification code, enters an instruction code to instruct the privatebranch exchange telephone system to divert the call for the registereduser associated with the entered identification code, to the secondextension.
 9. A system according to claim 7, wherein if the registereduser, in addition to the identification code, enters an instruction codeto instruct the private branch exchange telephone system to divert thecall for the registered user associated with the entered identificationcode, to the second extension.
 10. A system according to claim 1,wherein the identification code comprises the number of the extensionwith which the registered user is associated.
 11. A system according toclaim 10, wherein if the registered user, in addition to theidentification code, enters an instruction code to instruct the privatebranch exchange telephone system to divert the call for the registereduser associated with the entered identification code, to the secondextension.
 12. A system according to claim 1, wherein if the registereduser, in addition to the identification code, enters an instruction codeto instruct the private branch exchange telephone system to divert thecall for the registered user associated with the entered identificationcode, to the second extension.
 13. A paging system comprising a privatebranch exchange telephone system having a number of registered user, aregistered user being associated with an extension of the private branchexchange telephone system and a mobile voice communication devicenumber, where in response to a telephone call made from a firstextension of the private branch exchange telephone system to aregistered user's mobile voice communication device number, theregistered user enters an identification code on a second extension ofthe private branch exchange telephone system, and the private branchexchange telephone system in response to the entered identificationcode, diverts the call to the second extension.
 14. A system accordingto claim 13, wherein the identification code comprises the number of theextension with which the registered user is associated.
 15. A systemaccording to claim 14, wherein if the registered user, in addition tothe identification code, enters an instruction code to instruct theprivate branch exchange telephone system to divert the call for theregistered user associated with the entered identification code, to thesecond extension.
 16. A system according to claim 13, wherein if theregistered user, in addition to the identification code, enters aninstruction code to instruct the private branch exchange telephonesystem to divert the call for the registered user associated with theentered identification code, to the second extension.